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Mills College Becomes the First Single-Gender College to Admit Transgender Students

There are currently 119 single-gender colleges and universities in the United States.

Mills College in Oakland, California, has become the first of those institutions to admit transgender students.

The college’s undergraduate admission policy on “transgender or gender questioning- applicants” now permits “applicants whose gender identity does not match their legally assigned sex” as of the 2014-2015 academic year.

In other words, applicants who were identified as male at birth but who now identify as female are welcome to apply, though applicants who were identified as female at birth but who now identify as male and have legally changed their gender are excluded from consideration.

Mills College expects that only a handful or so of the students in any incoming class will be male-to-female transgenders.

Last year, Smith College generated some controversy when it denied admission to Calliope Wong, a transgender student who was identified as male at birth, now identifies…